{"id":845515,"date":"2025-11-08T02:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalvoices.org\/?p=845515"},"modified":"2025-11-05T06:05:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T06:05:34","slug":"the-invasion-of-ukraine-accelerates-kazakhstans-turn-toward-linguistic-sovereignty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalvoices.org\/2025\/11\/08\/the-invasion-of-ukraine-accelerates-kazakhstans-turn-toward-linguistic-sovereignty\/","title":{"rendered":"The invasion of Ukraine accelerates Kazakhstan\u2019s turn toward linguistic sovereignty"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Kazakh government promotes the Kazakh language through strategic initiatives, such as mandatory Kazakh language testing for civil servants, while its use by the general population is gaining momentum across various sectors. Following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kazakhstan has sought to reshape its language policy.<\/p>\n

The 2023\u20132029 Language Policy Concept aims<\/a> to expand the use of Kazakh across science, IT, media, and governance, including the transition from the Cyrillic script to the Latin alphabet. Recently, 13 projects in media and information services<\/a> were launched to establish modern approaches and address the challenges facing the Kazakh language.<\/p>\n

According<\/a> to the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Aida Balaeva, Kazakh-language media consumption is now dominant, with \u201c80 percent of the audience consuming media content in Kazakh.\u201d Although independent statistics cannot confirm this figure, it does reflect an upward trend.<\/p>\n

The inclusion of the Kazakh language in Hollywood dubbing<\/a>, one of just 30 languages, signals growing international recognition, driven by rising domestic demand. Besides, social media, bloggers, and the integration of the Kazakh language in various apps and video games make the language more accessible<\/a> for the younger generation.<\/p>\n

This has not always been the case, however. These changes have unfolded as a slow trend, according to Rustam Burnashev, Associate Professor at the Faculty for Global Politics at the German-Kazakh University in Almaty.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Global Voices, Burnashev recalled: \u201cKazakh, as a language of education, has been overlooked since the dominance of Russian during the Soviet period. Nowadays, it is the civic symbol of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Figures<\/a> show that the number of enrollments into Kazakh schools rose from 32.4 percent in 1991 to 66 percent in 2019. This may indicate that knowledge of Russian and its use are declining among the youth. Russian proficiency is regionally concentrated, mostly in the north and central parts, which house large populations of ethnic Russians<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Demographics and the use of the Kazakh language<\/h3>\n

The widespread use of Russian as a lingua franca is rooted in Kazakhstan\u2019s Soviet legacy, during which many ethnic minorities were deported<\/a> to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, forcing Kazakh to private life and rural entities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These resettlements often led to the formation of multiethnic communities, where Russian emerged as the practical medium of communication.<\/p>\n

Here is a YouTube video about the aftermath of the Russification of Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n